Friday, December 31, 2010

Above we see the Norse God Heimdall, as portrayed by actor Idris Alba, in the upcoming movie Thor, which is based more on the Marvel Comics superhero, not so much on the mythology of Scandinavia. Naturally, a good many people have stridently objected to the casting of a black actor in the role of a Germanic deity, but Marvel has been careful to explain that the Asgardians are not really "gods" in the religious sense. They are actually a bunch of aliens from another dimension. Following is probably the most accurate explanation I've yet read regarding this hair-brained plot line.

the Asgardians in the film are, as they are in the Earth X comics, actually aliens rather than gods. They visited earth in the ancient past, where their culture, language, beliefs and customs influenced the development of certain human civilizations, such as the Vikings

Whew, what a relief. That's a much more realistic view of the ancient gods, isn't it? Much better than actually putting them on the level of a truly religious deity, such as Yawheh, Christ, Allah, or Buddha. After all, that might be a real insult to the adherents of the world's major religions, might it not?

You can see a theme developing here amongst the folks at Marvel. Don't dare to offend anyone. Except, of course, the very people who are the most devoted to the very characters and, yes, gods that you are cravenly exploiting.

At any rate, despite the fact that the Asgardians come from an alien dimension, they are made up of different racial types, somehow strangely identical to those found on earth.

Many of the film's critics are urging a boycott of the movie. Others disagree, and in some cases suggest they are or might be acting out of racist inclination. For example, Jason at the Wild Hunt disingenuously suggests that there is something not only racist but hypocritical at work here. For example, many of the current critics of the film had no problem that Thor, originally red-haired and full bearded, became in the comics a clean-shaven, blond haired hero more similar in appearance to Prince Valiant than to a rugged Norse fighter and slayer of giants.

What makes this argument remarkably disingenuous is that the comic book Thor predates the Asatru movement by probably at least ten years, and the comics creators wanted a handsome, dashing figure that would look good in a tight fitting outfit. This could hardly be considered to be in dire conflict with the traditions and heritage of the original followers of the Norse God. It is probably more a reflection of the fact that the vast majority of the more rabid comic books fans, probably as much as eighty percent of them, are closeted gays. The other twenty percent are so far out of the closet every fucking day is their own personal Gay Pride Parade.

You think I'm exaggerating? One of Thor's better known villains is an indestructible entity created by Thor's father Odin called the Destroyer, who can only come to life when he is animated by the controlling, or controlled, guiding spirit of another. At times he has been portrayed with what looks to be a bulging penis at his crotch. The only problem with this is, he's a magical but EMPTY FUCKING SUIT OF ARMOR!

In other words, in so many ways we see how Marvel has historically manipulated the sensitivities and even the sexuality of its fan base for profit, yet they get a pass from these fanboys, black and white.

This would include now the proprietor of this site which promotes black heroes, who stresses that he is happy Marvel has stood by its decision and is ready to stick it to the racists. The word racist here is doubtless defined as anybody who objects to the casting of a black actor in the role of a Norse God.

As someone who is no longer a fan of comics, this really isn't my fight. As someone who isn't truly an Asatruer or Odinist, it is not my concern. And I am damn sure not a Wotanist, which is in fact a white supremacist religious group devoted to the worship of Wotan (the ancient German spelling of Odin, who was Thor's father). Nevertheless, this leaves me just a little perplexed, and not a little disgusted.

But before I go on, I want to point out, I have no problem with black actors taking on traditionally white roles. For example, when Will Smith took on the role of James West, the role made famous by Robert Conrad in the classic western themed tech-spy series The Wild Wild West, I was intrigued by the concept, and was eager to see it. Unfortunately, the movie itself turned out to be a load of crap, but that's beside the point.

In this case, the whole point of casting Idris Elba as Heimdall, the Norse God and Guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, is useless, pretentious, obvious, calculating, and on top of that, silly and unnecessary. And yes, even a little bit insensitive towards people who are, with good reason, prideful of their European heritage and roots, people who are not all racists and bigots, but who nevertheless understandably take exception to their heritage being hi-jacked and subverted for the sake of political correctness, or at least for a wider share of the film audience.

This should also be seen as an insult to the black movie audience. It actually has the temerity to presume that they are incapable of appreciating a film that doesn't feature an African American or black character, which is of course nonsense, and let's face it, fucking racist as all get-out in its own right. If you can even get around to thinking about it seriously, which is to say honestly, you could cut the condescension with a knife, provided you aren't quickly suffocated by the polluting arrogance of sheer elitist gall.

Marvel can spin their wheels all they want about the "true nature" of the Asgardians, and they can certainly give them a multi-cultural history if they want. They own the rights to what characters that they themselves have invented, such as the Enchantress, Karnilla, Volstagg, etc. But no matter how they try to spin it, there's no getting around the undeniable fact that the setting, concept, and for the most part the central characters, are definitely based on the ancient Norse legends and myths. Marvel didn't invent them, they adapted them, and to an extend made them their own.

Let's face it-the Marvel people are free riders who have made possibly tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars from the adapted mythology of an ancient people whose descendants are yet very much alive, and who have a very great degree of reverence and respect for their ancient cultural traditions. This is just as true even if they don't subscribe to any form of religious devotion to their ancestral deities. And in fact this is the case with the vast majority of them.

But they do have the right to object and even to feel offended when their very heritage is disrespected, regardless of the reason or excuse.

If Marvel is determined to change characters from black to white, they could just as easily make Captain America, or Iron Man, or the Fantastic Four, black people. But of course they won't do that, because they know they would never get away with it. People would bitch, and rightly so. On the other hand, they did change Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, into a black man, portrayed by Samuel Jackson. No one complained that I know of, including me.

But Heimdall, an actual cultural icon from centuries ago, in fact from more than a millennium past? A figure from ancient Norse mythology who was one time himself a figure of devotion, and possibly even the center of his own cult of worship? I'm sorry, but that's just a bridge too far.*

It's too late to change things now. The die has been cast, and Marvel should stick to their guns. We don't need any further Rodney King style riots over something as trivial as who portrays a character in a superhero movie. And no, its not racist to suggest that there are some in the black community who would use such a controversy as an excuse to start something like that. If you don't believe me, wait and see what happens in a great many inner cities if Barak Obama is defeated for re-election in 2012. I'm still surprised there weren't celebratory yet destructive riots in some inner city black neighborhoods when he won.

But Marvel needs to drop the disingenuous excuses and start treating the cultural sensitivities of a probably not insignificant portion of their fan base with equal consideration. Respect for the heritage and traditions of all races and religions should be an equal opportunity endeavor. Otherwise, Marvel continues to look like just what they are-just another group of leftist hypocrites.

I'm not expecting any change from this group of creatively challenged funny book creators. As I alluded earlier, I am a great fan of the concept of the comics, the characters and some of their plots and story lines. But it just doesn't translate well on film, due mainly to the obvious time constraints which work in conflict with the generally over-ambitious scope of the majority of movie adaptations. But even the comics themselves have gotten bogged down with overly complicated tie-ins and overarching plots and story lines that are ridiculous to the extreme. Yes, even by comic book standards. It just gets worse and worse. No one ever stays dead for long, there are so many different alternate realities you have to be an autistic savant to even begin to be able to keep track of them, and there are so many god-like entities, some of whom can create and destroy entire universes with little more than a passing thought, its gotten to the point no one can take them seriously even on a creative level. The irony is, the movies might well be their last best chance of survival, and could pave the way for a creative renaissance. But it looks like they are determined to screw that up as well.

The comics industry has just dug itself a hole, but that's the nature of the beast. They are cultural thieves, in addition to free-riders, and that's what thieves do. More often than not, they do not end well.

The Environmental Protection Agency has set new regulations that apply mainly to seven states, including Texas, which according to the EPA would, if it were a nation, be the eight largest carbon producer in the world. It is the largest polluter in the US, accounting for 11% of the pollution produced here. But what does that really mean?

Rick Perry isn't having any of it, and has sued to stop implementation of the EPA's guidelines, but a federal court has refused to block the EPA until such time as the matter is resolved.

What really matters is the price at the pump. When these new rules take effect, on January 2nd, look for the price of gas to rise dramatically. Frankly, the Republicans in the House can put a stop to this by simply refusing to fund the EPA.

The administration didn't seem to get the message that the American people are against Cap And Trade. If Obama doesn't get what he wants through legislative action, evidently he thinks its appropriate to force the issue through a dictatorial regime.

That's not only legitimate grounds to withhold funding from the agency, it might also be a legitimate reason to proceed with impeachment proceedings.

This is some depressing shit to watch on the day before New Years, so you've been fairly warned. Barrett Brown actually seems to have set up a confrontation with his girlfriend's roommate, and recorded it, and then uploaded it (and a follow-up continuation) onto YouTube. The roommate is pissed because Brown left his condom in the guys bathroom, and there was something said about keeping the guy up on a work night. So here he is with his laptop conveniently recording the guys reaction. I don't know why Brown didn't just whup it out and start pissing on the walls.

Oh well, kudos to him at least for having the guts to call the guy a faggot. Barrett made sure to point out to the guy, who he calls a computer designer and giant pussy, that he writes for Vanity Fair. Maybe soon he'll upload a video of himself on the receiving end of a good tongue lashing from Andrew Sullivan here in a few days.

Be honest. Don't be afraid to tell the truth. You'd do this, wouldn't you? At least, if you were drunk, or desperate, or both, provided she promised not to tell, right? Just for the record, I would in a heartbeat. Why?

Because this is Katy Fucking Perry, and I don't give a shit that she's ugly as homemade sin without her make-up. She's still just as beautiful as ever where it counts.

UPDATE-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson decided not to pardon Billy The Kid after all. That means William Bonney will remain officially a felon. He'll never be able to cast a vote for a Democratic candidate for any public office, anywhere in New Mexico.

I don't know what your game is, but you aren't fooling me, Richardson.

The most famous two week job in the history of the world, although the model pictured, real name Geraldine Hoff Doyle, wasn't widely known until this poster was used in the nineteen eighties as a symbol of the women's movement. Formerly, it was part of a Westinghouse program that trained young women workers. The original Rosie quit the job after two weeks, because she wanted to become a cello player and was afraid she'd injure her hand. She wasn't aware of the poster herself until years later. Her husband died earlier this year.

Katie Couric in a recent end of the year round up suggested to a guest, comedian Mo Rocka, that America needed a television program that would be a Muslim version of The Cosby Show. This, she claims, might help Americans overcome their prejudice of Muslims by showing them in a positive light.

I have an idea some network head honcho someplace might try this eventually, maybe this year, but it won't work. Americans are tired of the media and political elites glossing over the inherent flaws that infest the religion of Islam, and the undeniable problems they cause, and its going to take a hell of a lot more to change their minds than just-well, more of the same.

They can certainly make a program that depicts the head of a Muslim family as a loving, concerned parent and husband who wants what is best for his family, and they can make him a lovable, curmudgeonly goof-up for the lulz. The family will be dealing with the bigotry and prejudice they will face, and no doubt we can look forward to hearing speeches by daddy Akhmed denouncing terrorism, and stressing the need to act with respect, tolerance and friendship towards those of different cultural and religious backgrounds. I bet one of his best friends will be Jewish. The kids will be fun loving, savvy kids who just want to make friends and get along. The girls will all wear the hajib, but will do so willingly and cheerfully, while whiling away their time doing their homework, what time they aren't shopping around for potential husbands on Facebook.

Naturally, there will be problems with the kids, who will at times express resentment over the prejudices they face in their lives, but papa Akhmed will set things right with inspiring monologues about the greatness of America and the overall goodness of the American people.

Of course, this will go over like a lead balloon. Just because something presents a pretty package doesn't necessarily mean there's anything inside. Such a program will be seen for what it is, an idiotic attempt to convince Americans that Muslims are "just like us" in every way that is important, and that we should not judge them or their religion.

Fair enough, but we are not concerned about a few individuals. We are concerned about a movement, and its affects on large numbers of its adherents. The fact that Doctor Akhmed might cure your flu with a sincere smile on his face means little in the grand scheme of things.

For such a program to be successful, it must strive for intellectual honesty in its attempts to portray Muslims, and their faith, which is the single most important influence of their lives, even if they themselves are not personally religious. It defines who they are and their most important life experiences. It frames the cultures in which they were raised and influenced. And that influence, while arguably positive to some extent, is undeniably negative and destructive, coercive and intimidating, in so many different ways it is impossible to hide it, and ridiculous to try to do so.

In portraying the lives of such a family, of such people, by drawing on the model of a familiar American cultural icon and giving it an Islamic flavor, such a program should draw more from Archie Bunker than from Doctor Huxtable. But then, that would be defeating the purpose. It would be difficult to portray, in a positive manner, a man who demands abject obedience from his wife and daughters, whose lives he rules with an iron hand, forbidding them from leaving the house without his express permission, other than for work and school, making sure they dress the way he wants them to, threatening to disown them if they dare speak out of turn, or without permission, particularly to a young man who might be a potential suitor. There might be some real laughs if he somehow gets the idea his middle son might be gay. But it wouldn't be so funny if it turned out to be true. Well, that is, if this were a realistic portrayal.

Or, suppose Akhmed's wife were to surreptitiously plan a surprise party for her husband, only for him to overhear her making her plans over the phone and get the idea she was carrying on an adulterous affair. He broods about it for days on end, and of course certain other things happen, and certain seemingly innocent remarks are made that intensifies his suspicions. Then, on the night in question, Akhmed comes down the stairs, when all of the sudden the lights come on and there are all of Akhmed's family and friends standing around singing "for he's a jolly good fellow" while he stands there cradling the limp body of his strangled wife, looking the fool with a stupid shocked look on his face. Ha Ha Ha how hilarious would that be?

This being a comedy, of course, he would not have been successful, so she will revive, and obediently claim she was attacked by a stranger. They embrace and all is well. This might lead him to make amends with his recently disowned oldest daughter, who he habitually calls a slut, whore, and devil woman, all because she divorced her former husband and married another man without his permission. Of course, he will have to restrain the older son from killing her on sight, which should also be good for a few laughs.

And what about that younger son, the one who stabbed his teacher for implying somehow that Mohamed was not a greater prophet than Jesus? A real little spitfire, that one. And there's the youngest daughter, who wants to be like Miley Cyrus when she grows up. Akhmed is going to really have his hands full with her. Patience, Akhmed, patience, she's still young, she's only seven, and if worse comes to worse maybe you can marry her off to your cousin Massoud, who at fifty-five can't seem to find a suitable wife. Just wait a year or two and see if she calms down first. Oh, but shit, he forgot, he's in America now. Oh well, Massoud is a relative, just let him move in the house. He will have to keep his pet nanny goat tied up out in the back, but otherwise-

Yeah, you get the picture. It's not going to be much help to portray Muslims as accepting and tolerant towards other peoples and cultures, when the reality is they treat their own family members like shit, especially their wives and daughters. But of course, when Couric talks about the need for an Islamic television Huxtable family, she doesn't have anything approaching reality in her mind. She wants to present a vision of something that doesn't exist in the real world and hope it will influence us, even though most of us know its crap.

In their vision, Muslims would be portrayed as basically good, honorable, caring, and tolerant of others, and what ones are bad, well that's the fault of us bigoted, zenophobic, racist, intolerant white Americans, especially fundamentalist Christians and conservative Republicans who are infested with hate and who cause the poor oppressed minority people to react sometimes in a violent manner, out of nothing but pure frustration over the hopelessness of their lot.

This is the difference between liberals, and most of the rest of us. Conservatives, and other rational people, see things the way they are, and act and think accordingly. Liberal progressives see things the way they want them to be, and think if they promote that vision long enough it will eventually take root and become reality. Muslims will be encouraged to embrace this more positive vision, and white people's hatred will gradually dissipate, and be replaced by a more understanding, kind, and gentle acceptance.

That's why white people and black people have such a deep, abiding mutual love and respect for each other these days. It's due to nothing but the hard, dedicated work of liberal Democrats, and progressives like Katie Couric who work tirelessly to show us the way.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Congrats are in order for the most famous parents of any child born on December 25th, Christmas Day, of this year. Yes, I am talking about the husband and wife team of-

Mr. and Mrs. Elton John and David Furnish. Now those boys can rock and roll. Elton succeeded in his quest to be the recipient of the sweetest gift of all-the birth through surrogate by way of induced labor of little Zachary Levon Furnish-John. According to unnamed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, the conception was the hardest part, as it involved the splicing together of the genetic material within the donated sperm of the British superstar and his longtime spousal companion, whom Mr. Fantastic himself playfully refers to at times as his little "Brown Dirt Cowboy".

Like the lad in the song "Levon", the newborn son of the pair was born on Christmas Day, yet Elton named him Levon, and not Jesus, whom Elton claims was gay due to the noted compassion and forgiving nature of the Son of God. Elton might have been mindful of the potential curse of the lyrics of Levon, such as the following.

"And Jesus, he wants to go to VenusLeavin' Levon far behind"

Obviously, Elton and David intend to be great parents to little Zachary Levon, raising him with love and discipline, and instilling in him the Christlike principles of forgiveness and compassion.

Let's all join together then in granting David and Elton a hearty congratulations and best wishes for the years to come.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Earlier this month, here, I related how a group of international Global Climate Change Proponents had gathered in Cancun to try to hash out an agreement to tackle the growing problem (of growing disbelief in their bullshit scam). Someone there opened one of their meetings with an invocation to the Mayan Jaquar goddess, Lxchel, pictured below.

I later ran across a post on Belchspeak that went into some detail about this ancient Mayan cult. If you are at all familiar with the old Meso-American culture of the Mayans, you will not be at all surprised to learn that the nature of its rituals are as blood-curdling and terrible as the jaguar itself.

They sacrificed a young maiden ever year, but cutting out her still beating heart.It doesn't get much worse than that ordinarily, but this cult managed to turn an already murderous ritual into one that is as macabre as anything you will see in any horror movie.

After her death, the priests proceeded to flay her. In other words, they took her skin completely off of her. So what did they do with it?

The Chief Priest dressed himself in the dead sacrificed girl's skin. Yes, you read that right. But that's not all. It manages to get worse. While wearing the dead girl's skin, he would sit around in a darkened room-sewing. While he engaged in this act, probably for hours upon hours into the night, the other priests would stand around the room. Dancing, singing, chanting, praying, playing instruments. I don't know why. Possibly to scare off some perceived demonic spirit by disguising himself as the goddess Lxchal. Or possibly thinking to trick Lxchal herself into providing some hoped for blessing that only she could supposedly grant, by pretending he was the girl who had earlier been sanctified to her. Ancient people's, while imbued with an unhealthy terror of the power of their gods, and even their wisdom, conversely had a naive and perhaps a childlike tendency to underestimate their general intelligence, which would seem contradictory. But remember, these people had a rudimentary knowledge at best of the natural world.

People will argue this point unnecessarily, but the American Indian, including Meso-Americans, are all descended from hunter-gatherer tribes that came over from Asia at a formative time in human development.

The discovery of fire and its uses were wide-spread. Certain tools had been invented, notably the bow and arrow, and had likewise spread far and wide. The rudimentary knowledge of agriculture had taken root, though was not greatly developed. One thing that hadn't happened before they came over her-or at least it hadn't been widely disseminated-was the invention of the wheel.

People argue this point, again, pointing out that the wheel would have been impractical, but while that might be true with wide areas of Meso-America, the lack of the wheel is also notable throughout the Americas, including the tribes of North America, even in the Great Plains and Southwest and Pacific coastal areas, and other such places where the use of the wheel would have proven a great boon.

The wheel? These people didn't even know how to ride a horse. That's something they learned from us, albeit very quickly and well.

The point to all this isn't that they were inferior. It is that they were simply stuck at a stage of social development they were in at the time they come here due to lack of outside contact. Their discovery by Europeans were in a sense a very real window into a world of utter savagery and barbarism, with only the rudimentary promises of a flourishing civilization. Advanced in some regards, to be sure, but in other respects, harsh and unrelenting in its callous disregard for basic human decency towards its weakest, and even its most average members.

This is the world discovered by Christopher Columbus. A world where the young boys of one tribe were captured by the warriors of a dominant tribe, raised in cages, castrated, fattened, and eaten. It was not a world of noble innocence and attunement with the divine aspects of nature. It was a world of wanton violence, capricious bloodshed, and superstitious fear of a natural world that more often than not portrayed a demonic aspect.

This is the world the most rabid pro-environmentalists want to bring us back to. Not them, of course, just the masses. These are people that hate technology, at least on an industrial, world-wide level. When Arnold Schwarzenegger in his capacity of governor of California made ready to approve a massive solar energy plant in the desert of California, these are the people who, far from voicing approval of the project as one would ordinarily expect they would, voiced strenuous objection to it, adamantly opposed going ahead with the project, for the sake of a few hundred salamanders which might be adversely impacted.

They are against anything that will truly advance mankind in a positive direction, because they are in fact against any and all progress. Their hopes for what they see as an ideal world does not include mass travel and communication, or a strong and bustling market economy on a national or international level. There are no room for modern conveniences or comforts. They see that as mankind taking unnecessarily from the earth at the expense of other creatures, all of whom have the same rights as any human being.

I consider myself a friend to the environment, and a believer in animal rights and welfare. But there is right, and there is reason. And then there is modern environmentalism. I recall once a debate on CNN between a conservative pundit and the then head of PETA, whose name I don't recall right now, nor do I see the need to look it up. The gist of the debate that I saw involved the right of rats to not die painful deaths at the hands of humans. Somewhere in the debate the conservative asked the PETA head if he believed humans had the right to kill head lice. Unbelievably, the PETA guy never answered the question.

He. Never. Answered. The Question!

These people don't even know what they're doing half the time. At one point, members of the radical animal rights group ALF released a large number of minks slated to be killed for their fur. Minks, if left unchecked, breed in numbers that are comparable to rats or rabbits. You can kill and skin a thousand a day and probably barely make a dent in the population. Yet they let these things loose, and they went around killing people's pet cats, and small dogs.

And of course I've already written numerous times about the time a man in Kentucky killed a bear which tried to break into his own house, and was charged with a crime. I have still never heard how that case turned out. The news media in Kentucky ceased covering the story, and good luck getting anybody to comment on it to this day. In return for protecting his own home, and his pet dog which was in the house, the poor schmuck may as far as I know be in some insane environmentalist Kentucky Democrat version of a forced labor/re-education camp.

Yet, these people still have an inordinate power and influence on world politics, especially and most ironically within the advanced nations of the world, and even more especially they exercise that influence through the more so-called "progressive" parties, including but not limited to the Democrats here in the US. Nor is their influence limited solely to progressives. Even some Republicans have fallen prey to their subterfuge and propaganda. That's one reason we call them RINOs. Recall how John McCain, speaking in support of Cap And Trade during the 2008 campaign, remarked that "if we are wrong, the worse we will do is leave our children a cleaner world."

That is one major reason, though not the only one, that even Sarah Palin was unable in the end to drag his crusty old rotten ass over the finish line to victory. That is also precisely the reason why there might yet be a civil war for the heart and soul of the GOP. The rank and file Republican base rejects the ideology of Global Climate Change and its implied vision for the world, but there is no denying that the influence is there, and it is a considerable one. And it is all-pervasive, growing almost omnipresent in scope.

Leftist environmentalists want you to believe that the world of tens of thousands of years ago was a world of peace, love, and reverence for mother nature, and they want to extend to you a cordial invitation to join them in a return to those times. Otherwise, they will sooner or later simply drag you, and all of us, kicking and screaming back to those times. And I would remind you, just in case a casual perusal of the news of the day at any given place and time is insufficient as a reminder-we are not so advanced from the days of prehistory as we sometimes like to pretend we are. We still have a tendency towards violence and aggression. It is true that over the years we have learned better to repress our more violent urges and instincts, to some extent. This is partly through the better angels of our natures, yes, but those better angels have always been with us, side by side with our more ruthless personae. We have made great strides towards allowing our better selves to gradually become more predominant through, and perhaps chiefly because of, the technological advances we have made through the centuries that have made our lot easier to bear, as a culture and society.

Yet, the environmentalists of the modern era would gladly rip out the heart and soul of civilization and display it to their maddened, indoctrinated mass of fanatic followers, while they vainly attempt to cloak themselves in the mantle of something they are most assuredly not-friends and protectors of humanity, nature, and the earth.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The two major rival insurgent factions in Somalia have made peace and joined forces, determined to drive out the UN supported government recently installed in an attempt to finally bring peace to the ravaged, war-torn country. They also have a message for President Barak Obama-

Its hard to imagine what they could be thinking. Are they actually backwards enough to think that if Barak Obama converted, all Americans would just blindly follow his lead, because he's the fucking President? Is it just the idea that if he converted he would look more favorably upon Islamic causes, to the extent he might end the war in Afghanistan and more forcefully support the Palestinian cause?

Or is it possible they really believe, like many do here, that he secretly already is a Muslim and should just be open about it?

There's only one thing we know for sure, even if some of us don't feel comfortable admitting it. They are, like all Muslims-even the best of them-mentally enslaved to the mentality of a savage, seventh century death cult, and the only peace possible to achieve with them is going to require the shedding of a hell of a lot more blood than has thus far been shed.

Ariana Forster, or "Ari Up" as she was better known, died of cancer the day before this video was posthumously released (as per her request), around October 19th or 20th. She was the step-daughter of punk rock legend Johnny Rotten, formerly of the Sex Pistols.

She formed The Slits at the age of fourteen in 1976, appearing nearly nude on the cover of band's debut album "Cut" (pictured above) at the age of 16, dressed in nothing but a loin cloth-and mud. The all-girl band broke up in 1981, but she had just recently reformed it, along with Palmolive, the original drummer.

This is actually a good song, even if you don't particularly care for reggae, and the video is good too. Tell you the truth, I didn't even know who this woman was until I happened across her death notice from October 20th at New York Daily News.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Who in the hell goes around saying things like "we are fully prepared to launch a sacred nuclear war". Why do despots say stupid things like that? Nothing good can come of that kind of rhetoric. It makes you look desperate. To say nothing of stark raving mad, especially when somebody like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former Congressman and diplomat, says North Korea is a "tenderbox" and the worse he has ever seen it, in the wake of a recent visit to Pyongyang.

This is all due to the recent joint military exercises held by South Korea and the US just off the North Korean border. The North Koreans are convinced it is some diabolical plot by the US and South Korea to invade, and they are really ticked off about it. But that kind of over the top rhetoric actually just demonstrates their inherent weaknesses and insecurities. At best, people will laugh at them. At worse, even their allies come to realize they can not be reasoned with and must be dealt with sternly.

If they have to be assholes, why can't they at least be semi-reasonable ass-holes? Something like "we're going to beat you like a red-headed step-child". Or, "we're going to kick your asses up one side of the street and down the other". Maybe throw in something like "we're going to chew you up for breakfast and spit you out for lunch". How about "military exercise these nuts." Anything that would sufficiently demonstrate their agitation while demonstrating something of a human touch in addition to the braggadocio. Maybe even a hint of a sense of humor.

Meet Mark Anthony Richardson, 21, of Oklahoma City. He has what one might call a very unique way of picking up women. Since we recently passed the Pagan Yule, in which we celebrate the rebirth of the Sun God in the form of a newborn baby, I thought this man's story was deserving of honorable mention in the annals of the most bizarre stories of the year.

Some people are capable of doing almost anything to get their rocks off, but this guy takes the prize. In another example of "reasons you shouldn't trust strangers you meet over the internet", Richardson put an ad on Craig' List, pretending he had an autistic son who had to be treated like an infant. He took baby formula, from a bottle, for example. But more importantly, he still wore diapers, and needed to be cleaned and changed.

Of course, nobody ever met the "father", because father and son were one and the same. He would just arrive at the house of his new employee, in a cab, in one case in dirty clothes and already needing to be changed, carrying a note from his "father", along with money for payment. In this one case it is noted that he also carried a backpack, which contained baby formula. And diapers!

He would take the baby formula straight up, with no problems or obvious signs of discomfort, but when he soiled himself and needed to be changed, he would resist, and run, necessitating his being chased, held down, and cleaned, an activity which served to sexually arouse him. At one point, he grabbed the breasts of the eighteen year old daughter of the woman who had been hired at one point to babysit him. The girl was told he didn't know what he was doing.

Well, eventually the authorities discovered that he knew exactly what he was doing, and charged him with one count of sexual assault, and seven counts of outraging public decency.

His mother claims he is mentally unbalanced and needs to be in a psychiatric ward instead of a prison.

I don't know about that, but he most definitely deserves an award. No word on whether or not he is a Wiccan, or plays World Of Warcraft.

Yep, might as well go that extra mile here. Since zombies seems to be a big fad, with the A&E series The Walking Dead being one of the breakout hits of this year's television series, it stands to reason that someone should point out that, after all, it is fiction. Nobody would take that shit seriously, right?

No, this is not a story from Weekly World News, it actually happened somewhere in Colorado.

A man pursued by police for a traffic violation actually shot at a pursuing police officer because, according to his later statement, he honestly thought the cop was a zombie. Thankfully, the fool missed, whereupon the officer returned fire, wounding the suspect, though not seriously enough to permanently incapacitate or to kill him.

This was covered on at least one local news report, but unfortunately, the website for the local news outlet does not archive their articles, so it's vanished into the ether. But I think the guy copped an insanity plea.

YouTube should put some kind of warning page requiring folks to agree that they are eighteen years old or over before they watch this smokin' hot video. No wonder PBS decided not to air this shameful clip. Look at those breasts! What are people thinking? Don't they know three and four year old kids the world over will start engaging in mindless, gratuitous, meaningless sex if they're allowed to watch stuff like this?

Yes, I'm being sarcastic. This has got to be one of the stupidest so-called "controversies" of the past year.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

That's easy. There are many ways Democrat politicians will express their gratitude toward a constituent. For example, if you're New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and someone who "votes" for you is a known outlaw, you might grant him a pardon.

Congratulations are therefore tentatively in order for the individual pictured above, one William Bonney, aka Billy The Kid. Good for you, Billy. Glad you turned your life around.

And on the off chance somebody might take exception, bear in mind that we do have to make sure that everybody listed on the voter registration roles are legitimate voters, right? Felons are not allowed to vote, ya know.

Friday, December 24, 2010

The Germans and Austrians go that extra mile to impress on their children the importance of being nice. If they're naughty, they might get something more than a mere lump of coal in their stocking. They might get something much, more worse.

Krampasnacht is a Germanic tradition, celebrated with festivals and parades, such as this one here, in Graz from a few years back.

Ymir makes his presence known. Here he takes his nourishment from his magic cow, which is itself busy licking from the ice the form of Bore, who would go on to father Buri. Buri in turn would father Odin, Ville, and Ve. Ville would go on to father the Slavic race, while Ve would become the progenitor of, probably (though I'm not sure) the Celts, Gauls, and maybe the Mediterraneans (ancient peoples of course only touched on what they knew well, so Africans and Asians probably didn't figure into the equation). As for Odin, he would go on to become the father of Gods and men, meaning of course he founded the Aesir-in human terminology, the Nordic and Germanic peoples.

But before going their separate ways, Odin and his brothers made war against Ymir and his progeny, the Frost Giants. They killed Ymir, and afterward constructed the earth and heavens out of his body and blood. His skull was used to form the earth.

This was the explanation for the predominance of snow and ice in the northern areas, and its extension during parts of the year throughout large parts of the earth.

Now "Ymir" is exerting his influence once more throughout the earth. He is dumping massive amounts of snow and sleet throughout the US and Canada, and where it is too warm, such as in most parts of California, massive amounts of rainfall will doubtless precipitate dangerous mud slides. Colorado might get mote than eight feet of snow, maybe up to fifteen feet in places. Soon, the current system will wind its way to the east coast. Nor is Europe immune from the spirit of the ancient Frost Giant. The Old World in fact is in the grip of its worst winter weather in years, necessitating the need to shut down airports throughout Britain, Ireland, and the mainland.

Finally, there is even some evidence, according to NASA, that we might well be in the beginning stages of another cyclical ice age.

As for the melting polar regions, that might possibly be the result of undersea activity. Even Charles Johnson now says man does not control the climate. This amounts to a real sea change in his attitude, but it is based on the very real possibility that the seas have actually been storing excess heat for years, and is now releasing it.

Global Climate Change? Global Warming? Yeah, sure. The ancients were wise enough to realize certain things are beyond the complete control of even the Gods. Man for damn sure can never control nor subjugate the awesome forces of nature. The best he can hope for is to adapt to it, and learn how best to make use of its majestic bounty.

In other words-

Drill, baby, drill. Dig, baby, dig. Yes, we need a comprehensive energy policy, at long last, one that does not punish the producers of traditional forms of energy, but in fact encourages and rewards their efforts, while at the same time clearing the regulatory burdens in such a way that other, alternative forms of energy might also be efficient, and, yes, (gasp) profitable.

Of course, this law granting increased regulatory powers to the FDA is going to make it hard as hell on small farmers, farmer's markets, and regional food producers, but what the hell. Big Ag will make out like a bandit, so we should be grateful we have Big Brother looking out for our safety and well-being, right?

And if it puts small producers out of business, well, that's a small price to pay, I guess.

If one wished to be snarky, one might suggest that the current Democratic Administration was with the assistance of Congressional Democrats conducting a false flag operation in an effort to declare all out war on American small business, with the aid and support of a large segment of the establishment wing of the Republican Party joining in with the intent of helping their cronies in Big Ag corner the market.

But to suggest such a thing as that would be almost as un-American as-well, as a typical American politician.

Key phrases-

*Incoming Republican House Majority*Tea-Party faction*Funding

Let's hope something is done to rein in these abuses before potentially thousands of American businesses go under or are reduced to begging for donations like the Estrella Family Creamery.

Bear in mind, Estrella's problems began before this new law was passed. Once it goes into effect, how much worse will it be?

Isn't it time our government's regulatory agencies devoted their funds and resources to helping American businesses instead of harming them?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Why has the FDA banned Four Loko? After all, its just another caffeinated alcohol drink like Red Bull. In fact, the study they cited as a prerequisite to ban Four Loko was in fact a study of Red Bull. Yet, Red Bull has not been banned. So why single this drink out?

So now what? Government bureaucracy and regulations have made anything made out of plastic more expensive than it should ordinarily be by at least about half. This has created an artificial incentive to move over to soy-based compounds in the manufacture of such indispensable products as automobile wiring. But that's good for the environment, right?

Well, your average rodent would seem to think so.

Believe it or not, this is a rabbit caught feasting on the soy wiring of a car. This has caused numerous problems in the cars that have the new environmentally friendly wiring, usually ignition problems.

The soy based compound now used mainly in automopbile wiring will undoubtedly soon be a growing replacement for the wiring in your home.

This will be greatly appreciated by not only rabbits, but squirrels, woodchucks, mice, and rats.

Great news. If you have kids, boy or girl, you can enter them in the Gerber Life Cute Kid contest. You could possibly win 25,000 dollars, as well as a chance to get professional representation for your child's budding modeling or acting career. Don't feel you have a shot, the competition is probably too stiff? You never know until you try. The best thing is, this is not just a one shot affair. There is a different contest every month. Go check it out.

But, if you still feel as though your child isn't model quality, or you don't want to invest the money (a slight processing fee), or for whatever reason, you can at least help me out. Yes,The Pagan Temple is proud to announce that we have entered our precious little Dickie in the Gerber Life Cute Kid Contest.

He's actually been listed for three years now, but alas, poor Dickie has not won yet. The judges of the contest have so many entrants from which to choose, but we are confident that eventually our rambunctious, lovable child will one day make a superlative Gerber Baby. So please, head on over to the website and add your voice to ours.

And if you're guessing from the title that the family in question, recent immigrants from the hell-hole known as Somalia, are offended at the prospect of a visit from the giant elf, you can go to the head of the class. This has been a long cherished tradition, one that most families look forward to and which is great fun for the kids, yet our politically correct system decided to kowtow to the sensitivities of one family.

Perhaps a compromise is in order. Instead of his traditional attire, dress him in flowing white robes and wrap a rag around his head. Instead of saying "Ho, ho, ho" and carrying a big bag of wrapped presents, he can scream "Allahu Akbar" and wave a blood dripped scimitar.

Or, we could actually do the sensible thing-tell them to adjust to our culture or get the fuck out. Now that's a concept.

California has been called the Lindsey Lohan of states for good reason. It has lost sight of its potential and now, after living so long on a taxpayer funded binge, its about to crash and burn. The future does not look good, to say the least. When you are surrounded by enablers, and you refuse to take advice from those who could help you and so in effect refuse to help yourself, you can't expect for others to continually rush to your aid. They might want to, but after so long, even the most sympathetic to your cause will either run out of patience, or resources.

Obama himself got taken to the cleaners, but the taxpayers got the bill for 535 million dollars worth of stimulus funds granted to a solar panel manufacturer. They built a new plant but closed their old one and canceled their employees contracts after laying off a large part of their workforce. In other words, this was just another day in sunny California.

In the meantime, the public employees unions, state legislators, and environmentalists who helped all this and more like it to happen keep soaking the state of California to the tune of billions of dollars. The place is in debt for more than twenty billion dollars. Private employers are packing up and leaving in droves, in search of less green pastures in the form of states with friendlier tax and regulatory climates.

Yet, California just doesn't get it. The whole state is screwed up. After all, you can't say much about the politicians when the people keep returning them to office demanding more of the same. It's a basket case. It's so damn bad, if an earthquake sent it into the ocean, that might well be a best case scenario.

Look for California to ask for a bailout in time for the 2012 election, if not this year. In fact, I look for it to become one of the defining issues of the next election.

We're running out of chocolate, for a variety of reasons. It is hard to grow and harvest, and the few farmers who do grow it, mostly in Africa, can do better for themselves with other crops, or in other fields of endeavor outside farming all together. That means that as less chocolate is produced, a growing population might well be faced with the prospect of synthetically produced chocolates, or carob substitutes, or ever increasing expense for the real deal. And if things do get to the point where you'll be paying twenty dollars or more for a Tootsie Roll, you can bet somebody will try to form the OPEC of chocolate. Hell, a Hershey Bar would become a trading commodity, a staple of the futures market.

But there might be help on the horizon. Since scientists have recently cracked the chocolate genome, hell I might be able to grow the shit right here in Kentucky some day.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

How can you be sure you can send your children to a university that doesn't tolerate the viewpoints of the rabid right? After all, as a leftist, you want to be sure your children are taught the same values that you hold dear. You know in your heart of hearts the government has an obligation to make sure that everyone is equal and that every one adheres to the progressive doctrine of tolerance and diversity. After all, such values are the hallmarks of a civilized society, and it is the proper place of educators to pave the way by reinforcing in your children these progressive values by which you live your life and by which you have raised them.

Well, you need fear no more. If someone attempts to oppose the progressive agenda at your child's university, they can be banned, or maybe even prosecuted, for bullying.

It might seem harsh and unfair to some, but after all, we have to first and foremost make sure our universities maintain a healthy learning environment, where our children are free from the unscrupulous manipulation of those who would indoctrinate them against our most precious and heart-felt values.

Conservatives love America as it was in the past, despite its imperfections, and even love it for what it is now. Progressives see this as maudlin sentimentality and backward thinking. Progressives are more forward thinking and visionary. They love America for what it can be, once they succeed in remaking it in their image.

Obama looks poised to ruin the next holiday season, if n0t this one, by signing a bill into law that would severely limit school bake sales, or more specifically what kinds of foods can be sold at them. This is an initiative promoted by First Lady Michelle Obama to encourage healthier food "choices" on behalf of the nation's children.

Just how close is the First Lady to Bill Clinton anyway? After all, this is one of his pet projects. Well, him and Rachael Raye. Bill Clinton, Rachael Raye, Michelle Obama, and I think Mrs. Dennis Kucinich was brought in as a part of the deal President Obama made with Kucinich in return for his support for the Health Care Bill.

That's one hell of a cabal. The eating choices of schoolchildren determined by people who probably shouldn't be allowed within one mile of a school.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Andrew Breitbart might be on to a good idea here. Since the repeal of DADT, we now have the opportunity to utilize what might be our greatest possible weapon against Islamic radicals, such as Al Queda and the Taliban-homosexuals.

There is no single group of people who are more anti-gay than fundamentalist Muslims, which unfortunately seem to make up the majority of the religion's adherents, regardless of whether or not most of them can be legitimately classified as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers (although they are most certainly at the very least enablers).

This article from Der Spiegel relates just how bad homosexuals have it in Iraq. Oftentimes their genitals are cut off and their anuses stuffed with glue. And here is another post that relates how they are openly executed for the "crime" of homosexuality.

The most insane part of it is homosexuality between adult men and prepubescent boys is deemed acceptable. And even a man who dominates another man sexually is safe. It is only the passive partner who is deemed guilty of "effeminacy" and thus subject to a potential death sentence.

We may be on to something here. When some Islamic radical leader is captured, have him interrogated by two gays. One can be the "good cop", the other one the "bad cop". The bastard will probably spew out everything he knows before either one has to lay a hand on him.

Of course, liberals will object because that would be tantamount to "torture".

Friday, December 17, 2010

Above is a panel from the graphic novel The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, which is now a series on AMC and recently concluded its first season. I only caught the last two episodes of The Walking Dead, so missed the first four episodes. This is from the first episode.

This is the so-called "Bicycle Girl" scene, also from the first episode. If you have to meet a zombie, it should always be one with no legs. That scene alternates with one of a man in his home with his son, waiting for the opportunity to kill his now zombie wife. He has no trouble shooting the myriads of others that come into range of his rife, but when his wife comes into view, he can't seem to do it.

It's too bad this season only had six episodes, but in a way, its good. Its a sign that AMC probably wanted to invest heavily into top notch production values, but couldn't see their way clear to invest in more than six of them. Now that the series has proven to be a big hit, there will probably be more episodes next season, which unfortunately won't be until late next year, I think October.

When they return, I hope they put more emphasis on the zombie menace like they did in these two segments. In the last two episodes, which are the only ones I saw, they were more focused on the human survivors. This is understandable to a point, but the zombie action was still too sparse from my taste.

It was explained as some kind of virus that killed the personality of the original person, leaving them brain dead except for the brain stem, leaving them in effect more animal than human, dead but reanimated and acting solely out of pure instinct, with a ravenous hunger for living flesh.

That doesn't quite square with the little girl zombie in the first segment stooping to pick up her teddy bear, which would seem to hint some retention of prior human attachments. Oh well, dramatic license and all.

There's so many directions this thing can go. What if a woman gave birth to a dead baby, or it died in her arms while she slept and started gnawing on her? For that matter, what if it died in her womb?

How about a human-zombie love affair? It should definitely be living male human to zombie female. Sepsis as a sexually transmitted disease would just be wrong on every level.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

This is hard to believe, but a jury in Austria just found a man guilty of insulting the religion of his Islamic neighbors-by yodeling. They fined him 700 Euros, for yodeling while he was mowing his yard. He claimed the thought that he might have been insulting his neighbors never crossed his mind. He was just yodeling while mowing because he was in a good mood.

So in what way can yodeling be interpreted as an insult to Islam? Well, the Austrian's Muslim neighbors thought he was making fun of the Islamic call to prayer.

So, let's look at it. Here's an Austrian woman named Ernestine yodeling in a song-

And now, here's the Muslim call to prayer in Istanbul-

Yeah, come to think of it, there is a similarity, but I think its off the charts insane to fine an Austrian citizen, in Austria, for doing something Austrians have been doing for centuries, by deciding the man was obviously indulging in an old Austrian tradition to be provocative towards members of a group that have just recently moved to their country and gone out of their way to be obnoxious assholes, pretty much like these clowns do everywhere they go.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Any old hippy from the 1960's will tell you, half the fun of listening to a Bob Dylan song was wondering just what he was really saying. What was the hidden meaning behind those cryptic lyrics?

Well now, thankfully, Bob has taken the fun to a whole new level for the YouTube generation. In this video, something inexplicable happens that seems out of place to the general setting and mood of the song.

Now all those old hippies can gather at the local Starbucks and expound, theorize, and philosophize as to "what was Bob saying here?"

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Ed Schulz on his execrable MSNBC program The Ed Show has taken to excoriating John Boehner, the Republican House Majority Leader soon to become Speaker of The House of Representatives, for his propensity to cry, notably during discussions of The American Dream. Schulz blames Boehner and the Republicans for the country's problems and for "throwing working families under the bus" even going so far as to say his crying during a recent Barbara Walter's interview is a sign of a guilty conscience. Walter's co-host on The View like to infer that Boehner is just emotionally unstable. And of course liberal Democrats fall in line behind this rhetoric, and excuse it on the grounds that conservatives would be worse if Obama or Pelosi were to break down in tears. Some even point out how conservatives were cruelly derisive of Hillary Clinton when she broke down and cried following her loss in the Iowa caucus during her 2008 run for the Democratic nomination.

I would like to point out a major difference between Hillary and John Boehner which should be mind-numbingly obvious to any with the brains of Ray Bolger's Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

Boehner cried when his party, not just him, made their biggest electoral gains in several decades.

Hillary Clinton cried when she lost. When she lost her first caucus.

When that happened, Hillary Clinton lost the first important test of her candidacy during a primary season, prior to which she had been hailed for about two years as the all-but presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President in 2008. It was but the first of a series of long, hard fought primary season contests that she would lose, leading to her ultimate defeat and the corresponding ascension of Obama as Democratic nominee. Hillary had to know that her first defeat in Iowa was but a portent, an ominous foreshadowing of what promised to be a long, hard fought and bruising primary campaign season, one in which she was no longer assured of the victory she had come to feel was hers for merely the asking.

When it looked as though she might also fall to defeat in New Hampshire, it was too much for her. For a few brief seconds, she lost her composure, the steely, hard resolve for which she was noted, and she was overcome with a sense of emotional insecurity that actually revealed her to be more human than many might have suspected. Ironically, it actually helped her. She ended up winning the New Hampshire primary, and went on to score other victories. But in the end, she lost, as she feared she might that night two years ago when she broke down for just a few brief seconds, and lost her composure.

But her tears, despite her stated anxiety about those things she feared she would never accomplish, seem based on disappointment at the loss of the opportunity to extend the Clinton legacy of power and influence through yet a third presidential term.

Contrast this to John Boehner, whose tears were not tears of disappointment in the face of a crushing defeat, but instead were tears of gratitude and humility in the face of an overwhelming sense of responsibility entrusted by the American people not just in him, but in the party of which he is a leader. John Boehner came up the hard way, through hard work and dedication, working at menial labor jobs and rising from there to become a successful, even a wealthy businessman. He doesn't just trust and have faith in the American Dream. He has lived the American Dream. He has experienced it first hand, and knows what it can do for a person who puts enough of his blood, sweat, and tears into pursuing it. He also knows there is always the possibility of failure. He wants government to not interfere with it. Unfortunately, John Boehner knows that the government, thanks to a series of ill-advised policies, many implemented in some cases with the best of intentions, has for far too many people made the American Dream measurably harder to achieve. In some cases, it has outright crushed that dream.

John Boehner knows full well that he has the power to do one of two things. As House Majority Speaker, he can be a major influence towards restoring the American Dream to its former level of greater attainment by those with the potential to strive for success. Or, he can accede to policies that will continue to strangle that potential for greater and increased success for greater numbers of people. That has got to be an awesome responsibility, an awesome weight to hoist upon ones shoulders. He knows it is going to be hard. He knows it is going to be one set of long, hard battles after another, with some failures, and maybe few victories.

But you see, John Boehner will fight those battles to the end, and he will do it with all the strength he can muster. Because John Boehner, unlike Hillary Clinton, is not just fighting for his own sense of entitlement, of self=aggrandizement, for ever greater personal power and influence.

No, John Boehner is fighting for something greater, much greater than himself, or for that matter, much greater than the Republican or Democratic Parties.

He is fighting to keep the Dream alive, and he knows its life might well depend on what he does. Or maybe on what he doesn't do, as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

If he breaks down and cries from time to time from being overcome with the emotion inherent in such an awesome responsibility, I can not only forgive it, I can appreciate it.

Monday, December 13, 2010

I finally got around to watching a few episodes of Sarah Palin's Alaska the other night, and to tell you the truth its hard for me to fault Kate Goslin's performance for her guest-starring stint on the show. If you have never watched the show and decide to give it a shot, let me give you some good advice. You are going to want to make sure you are as close as possible to a soft, comfortable bed with the thickest, warmest blanket you can find.

Not because the show is so boring it will put you to sleep. Far from it. No, its because by the time you get through one episode you will be fucking exhausted just from watching it. And cold.

I have always imagined Alaska to be a land of scenic beauty and wonder, one of the last great nature refuge's on earth. And I'm sure it is, but you might not notice that from this series. Here, Alaska seems like a lonely, cold, and desolate place.

In one episode, Sarah and family visit a woman who lives in a large trailer way off somewhere in a secluded area, more than one hundred miles from her nearest neighbors. She related how one night when out foraging she was attacked by a bear which grabbed her by the head and dragged her off. As the Palin's felt her head and remarked on the evidenced left by the bear's crushing jaw, she related how she later sewed her head up by herself. Something's missing here, I thought. How did she get away from the bear? I never heard her explain, but I might have missed it running for the aspirin.

The main thing to remember about this show is-these people. Never. Stop. It's sunup to sundown activity. In an earlier episode, they went fishing, not with rod and reel, but to check their salmon nets. After one dry run, they went back the next day and took in a hefty haul. I shivered every time Todd or his partner reached into that frigid water to pull that thing in.

Todd is trying to train son Track to take over the family fishing business, but unfortunately, the Palin's son has-during his sojourn in Iraq-grown soft and lazy. He and his buddy neglected to clean up the tool shed, which they left in the biggest mess you could possible imagine. They were roused out of their sleep by little sister Piper some time after Todd and Sarah discovered the transgression and, sure enough, took it on themselves to clean up.

"No, please don't", I moaned to myself. "Please, take it easy. I can't take anymore."

But they just kept on. Not just Sarah and Todd, but the whole family. In that same episode, the middle girl, Willow, was up to her elbows in fish blood helping some of the other extended family members prepare dinner. And this, by the way, was on her birthday.

Her sweet sixteen birthday.

All of them were there, and all of them were working, constantly. This might sound like a put down, but its not. If anything, this show is proof positive that these people are the real deal. If Sarah becomes President, don't worry about her not being up for the job, or taking too many vacations. I seriously wonder if any of them even know what the word vacation means, in addition to other words, such as rest, relax, etc.

I am not exaggerating when I say that if I could go back in time one hundred years or so and tell the story of one of these programs around a campfire, by the time I was finished somebody would say "okay its my turn. Once there was this giant lumberjack with a big blue ox."

There are two different fallacies regarding Sarah Palin. One group thinks of her in negative terms, that she's a hick, or an opportunist, or that she's inexperienced and unqualified for high public office. One recent example of this is Aaron Sorkin, who recently penned a rant for the Huffington Post in which he criticized Sarah's apparent delight in killing animals, even though he admitted he himself was a meat eater. Apparently he thinks people that produce meat for supermarkets and restaurants wait until the animal dies of old age.

More to the point, these kinds of people are typical of the elitist, snobbish buffoons who like to portray themselves as the pillars of society. They know in reality that their lifestyle requires the hard work and sacrifice of other, and even the shedding of blood in some instances. They just don't want to have to know about it in detail, and in fact, they have a visceral reaction to the very people their very lives depend on. They want to pretend that they are too civilized, above all that, while people who live the life of the Palins are to their way of thinking too common, too crude, to regard seriously as their equals, when the fact of the matter is, people like the Palins are their superiors in every way that matters.

But there is another group of people who are just as deluded, and that is the people who think Palin is "just like us". Okay, in the sense that there are certain intrinsic values she might share, yes. But believe me, there is nothing ordinary or average about Sarah Palin.

The last thing I saw before I stopped watching was Sarah and an older in-law waiting to kill a caribou once it got in range, until it stopped and seemed to stare in their direction. "Something's wrong", whispered the older man.

Yeah, I think I know what that something was. That caribou stopped in his tracks and was thinking "Oh fucking dammit, I see a Palin at seven o'clock!"

I never saw how that turned out either. By that time my bones were so cold and sore, and I was so exhausted, I had to crawl off to bed.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Now that West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin has managed to derail the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, joining a filibuster with 39 Republicans, its probably a pretty safe bet the law won't be repealed for at least another two years. Manchin explained that he was not sure where his West Virginia constituents stand on the subject. I think he might have been kidding.

For my own part, I'm mixed on the subject, but Ann Coulter makes a great point when she decries the recent Pentagon poll as pretty meaningless as a gauge of military attitudes. That poll was skewed by the presence of non-military, non-combat related civilian branches and employees of the Pentagon. The actual military branches which would be most affected are dead set against repeal. This is especially true of the Marines, and it is a predominant attitude throughout the ranks. Asking the opinion of the Pentagon would be about as relevant as a poll of the members of Cirque du Soleil on this subject.

The military is politicized enough as it is. Democrats especially love to turn the military and its soldiers into political footballs, crying to the heavens about how they love and respect our men and women in uniform, yet insisting they go way beyond the call of duty to save civilian lives even at greater risk to their own, imposing unrealistic and outrageously strict codes of conduct against the most savage and barbaric of foes, and in myriad other ways limiting their success if not outright derailing it. They then use that lack of success as a political stick with which to whack Republicans up the side of the head. In the meantime, the bloody carcasses of our military casualties becomes a red meat they throw to their leftist base.

That is why we have not yet won in Afghanistan, and probably will not, and that is also why it took so long to achieve real progress in Iraq. I would personally discourage any young man or woman, especially a member of my family, from serving in any branch of the military. As a member of the armed forces you get unbounded respect from most of the general public, but you get next to none from the people who send you into harms way. This is especially true of the ones that have a "d" after their names.

The policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell is just another distraction from what is the real issue. Gays themselves are just another kind of cannon fodder to the Democratic Party, just another group of pawns the Democrats try to manipulate as cynically and as cravenly as the establishment Republicans try to manipulate Christian conservatives.

The real issue isn't should gays be allowed to serve openly in the military. The real issue is why would they want to serve openly or otherwise. The real issue is, why the hell would anybody want to?

I favor making the military a fourth co-equal branch of government myself, but that's a post for another day. For now I'll just suffice it to say they should have their own policies regarding who they allow to serve and under what conditions, and the civilian branch, the Pentagon and even the President and Congress should butt the hell out of it. They've done enough damage to our armed forces as it is, to say nothing of the psychological and physical damage to individual members of the military. They have served their country honorably at great sacrifice of life and limb. In some cases they will never recover from the mental and emotional turmoil to which they have been subjected, not only by foreign enemies but by mostly Democrat politicians who in some cases have enabled if not outright engineered their difficulties for political purposes, with tragic consequences.

For those same Democrats to then use the despair and tragedy they have wreaked upon our soldiers as a political issue and an excuse to even further oppose their missions while claiming out of the other side of their mouths that they only have their welfare and best interests in mind goes beyond the realm of insult. It's pure, unadulterated treason under the hypocritical guise of building a better, more just society and world. Its about time they were called on their bullshit, not allowed to hijack the legitimate interests of yet another poorly represented, leftist hijacked interest group as merely another political vehicle.

The military especially should be viewed as a sacred institution, something we depend on to secure the blessings of liberty and use respectfully only when deemed necessary with our full and wholehearted support. It should have a special places in our hearts and prayers, put on a very special pedestal, a place of honor. It should never be cynically manipulated for political gain by the likes of the craven politicians of both parties who have poisoned and perverted this nation's values.